Review - Naked Heat

Naked Heat (Nikki Heat #2)
by Richard Castle
Date: 2010
Publisher: Hyperion
Reading level: A
Book type: prose novel
Pages: 304
Format: e-book
Source: library

Detective Nikki Heat and tag-along journalist Jameson Rook are back to solve another case. This time, when one of New York's most outspoken gossip columnists turns up dead, there's no shortage of suspects. Plenty of them have secrets, and some of them would kill to keep those secrets out of the public eye.

As Heat and Rook try to figure out who committed the crime, more murder victims turn up and the intrepid duo eventually find themselves in the killer's sights. And even once they figure out who did it, they still don't know why... or who might be the next victim.

Yep... This definitely falls into the category of "guilty pleasure" reading.  I love the TV show and the first book was passably good.  Unfortunately, "Richard Castle" just isn't that great of a writer... which is too bad, because the stories themselves are pretty entertaining.

I actually liked the plot of Naked Heat a bit more than that of Heat Wave.  It was more complex and offered more peril for the main characters (which always makes things a bit more entertaining).  There were so many suspects that I was really thrown; I had no idea who did it (although, to be honest, I'm rarely right when I try to guess the culprit in murder mysteries).

On the downside, though, the writing seemed a bit lacking.  I realized at some point that we have no idea what these characters even look like, which gives these books away as TV tie-ins; I'm guessing we're already supposed to be able to envision everything because we've watched the show.  At times, the dialog seemed kind of forced.  And I don't really buy the whole relationship between Heat and Rook.  They tend to jump into bed together after stressful situations, and it seems to come out of the blue, especially after Nikki has spent the last few chapters being pissed off by her "partner".

All in all, though, it was a fun read.  It's not award-winning fiction by any means... but it's still entertaining.

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Pace: 2/5
Writing: 3/5
Editing: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.14 out of 5